1. Taking Flight

At this time of year, birds and other animals migrate. That means that they go to warmer places to spend the winter. Listen as your teacher reads an article from this week's newspapers about animals or people making a trip. In small groups, find the starting place and final destination of the journey on a map. Measure the distance between the two. Use the map's scale of miles to figure out how far the people or animals traveled, if they went "as the crow flies" in a straight line. Then write a poem about what it might be like to be a bird or animal migrating.

Learning Standards: Locating information using, books, audio/video recordings, photos, simple maps, graphs and tables; writing fluently for multiple purposes.

2. Picture Math

Photos can teach you a lot. But did you know they can help teach you math? Use the photos in today's newspaper to make a simple addition or subtraction problem. For instance, to make the problem 2 + 3, you could cut out a picture with two buildings and then cut out three pictures of apples. Paste your pictures on a sheet of paper, and write the appropriate +/- and = signs. Give your sheet to someone else. Have them show their answer using pictures, too. For the problem 2 buildings plus 3 apples, someone could paste down 5 babies as the answer.

Learning Standards: Collecting and exploring data, organizing data into a useful form and developing skill in representing and reading data displayed in different formats; using addition, subtraction, multiplication and division to solve problems.

3. Birthday Honors

Pablo Picasso was one of the best and most famous artists of all time. He was born on October 25, 1881. In honor of his birthday, pick an adjective you like. Now cut out pictures and/or words from the newspaper that remind you of this adjective. Make an art collage from your clippings. Be sure to give your collage a title. How old would Pablo Picasso be if he were alive this October 25?

Learning Standards: Acquiring information from visual, written and electronic texts; representing creatively.

4. Vegetarian Spider

In the world of nature, most spiders are predators. They survive by hunting insects or tiny animals and trapping them in their beautiful webs. So scientists in Central America were especially excited recently, when they discovered that one species of spider seems to prefer plants to prey. The newly studied vegetarian spider called B. kiplingi prefers the tips of leaves on acacia shrubs for meals in areas where it lives in Costa Rica and Mexico, the scientists said. Wildlife makes news in many ways. In the newspaper find a story or photo that involves wildlife. Read it as a class. Then write a complete sentence telling what you find most important or interesting in the story or photo.

Learning Standards: Describing positive and negative effects of humans on nature and wildlife; explaining ecosystem concepts and processes; writing fluently for multiple purposes.

5. Day Care Weight Watch

All over the country, health experts worry that Americans weigh too much. And there is special worry about kids. Twice as many children 6-19 are overweight today than were overweight 20 years ago, and extra weight can cause health problems later in life. To help keep kids' stay healthy, schools are changing the foods and snacks they serve. Now day care centers are looking to do the same. Day care centers are replacing sweet snacks with fresh fruit and fruit juices with low-fat milk, the Associated Press news group reports. And they are teaching that favorite foods like chicken nuggets should be treats not regular meals. As a class, talk about things that are important to help kids stay healthy. Then use pictures and words from the newspaper to design a poster or art collage with a healthy message for kids and their families.

Learning Standards: Responding to a variety of oral, visual, written and electronic texts by making connections to students' personal lives and the lives of others; comprehending what constitutes good health and nutrition.